Blogs

RPG Cafe Blog

About this blog

This is the place for RPG developers and IBM developers to mingle
and discuss our favorite language. We'll talk about the language
itself, its history, and its future. We will discuss the tools that
support it and the directions they are taking.

The problem Strange but true: By default, RPG assumes that the CCSID of alphanumeric data is the mixed double-byte + single-byte CCSID that is related to the job CCSID. This matters when all of the following conditions are met (very common) the actual job CCSID is a single-byte CCSID such as 37 (quite common) conversions are done between alphanumeric data and UCS-2 data (rare) the alphanumeric data contains shift characters (x'0E' or x'0F')When... [Continue Reading]

Orlando Summit is almost over. Except for the (not unexpected) lower attendance, it has been an excellent Summit. The Summit attendees are always very motivated to learn; almost all of them attend a session in every available time slot. Over 80% of them even attend the 8 am "early bird" sessions. That's dedication. But if possible, everyone here seemed even more motivated to learn than usual. People asked more questions (and more... [Continue Reading]

If you are in the Toronto area, the Toronto User Group TEC 2009 conference starts next week Tue (Mar 24-26) For those curious about Web 2.0, latest trends, and how it can be consumed or produced on IBM i, George Papayiannis and myself will be presenting a session called "What is Web 2.0?" Tue @2:55.

Here is the tip: Beware of performance tips For me, the performance rule that never changes is this one: Always question any rule you hear about X performing badly, or Y performing better than Z. Was it ever true? Is it still true? Might it change in the future? Can I measure the difference? Does it apply to my current situation? Does the difference matter enough to code in a more complex or error-prone way? The trouble with performance rules is... [Continue Reading]

The RPG compiler development team handles the design, development, testing and documentation of the RPG compilers. We are part of a larger team that also develops RDi and RTCi. The team is situated in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.